The origin of its composition is also unknown; she clearly chose its exotic Asiatic-sounding construction to suggest a mixed race ancestry, which allowed her to play East Asian, American Indian, Spanish, African and Negro character roles. To further advance the mystery engendered around her heritage it was sometimes claimed that her father was an Indian Hindu or a Native Hawaiian. Early film career Following her roles for Griffith, "Madame Sul-Te-Wan" followed up in 1916 with an uncredited role in the Anita Loos-penned drama The Children Pay with Lillian Gish and, again uncredited, in 1917 with Gish's sister Dorothy in the Edward Morrissey-directed drama Stage Struck. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Sul-Te-Wan would establish herself as a publicly recognizable character actress. In 1918 she appeared (uncredited) in Tarzan of the Apes as Jane's maid, Esmerelda. She appeared uncredited, most often in "Mammy" roles, alongside such popular actors of the silent film era as Tom Mix, Leatrice Joy, Matt Moore, Mildred Harris, Harry Carey, Robert Harron, and Mae Marsh. She appeared uncredited in the 1927 James W. Horne-directed Buster Keaton comedy College, and, uncredited, in the 1929 Erich von Stroheim-directed drama Queen Kelly, starring Gloria Swanson. Sul-Te-Wan transitioned into the talkie era with relative ease and continued to appear uncredited in high-profile films alongside such prominent film actors as Conrad Nagel, Barbara Stanwyck, Fay Wray, Richard Barthelmess, Jane Wyman, Luise Rainer, Melvyn Douglas, Lucille Ball, Veronica Lake and Claudette Colbert. However, as a black woman in the era of segregation, she was consistently limited to appearing in roles as minor characters who were usually convicts, "native women", or domestic servants, such as her uncredited role as a "Native Handmaiden" in the 1933 box-office hit King Kong. Despite the motion picture industry's limitations for African-American performers, Sul-Te-Wan worked consistently throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In 1937, Sul-Te-Wan was cast in her first memorable credited appearance in the role of Tituba in the film Maid of Salem, a dramatic retelling of the events surrounding of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The film starred Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Gale Sondergaard, Pedro de Cordoba, and Louise Dresser and was rather financially successful. Sul-Te-Wan's performance garnered critical praise. Later career On September 12, 1953, a banquet was held at the Hollywood Playground Auditorium by motion picture actors and film personalities to honor Sul-Te-Wan. Among its 200 attendees were Louise Beavers, Rex Ingram, Mae Marsh, Eugene Pallette